


Breakfast Curry

by Murmures1234



Series: Terror Inside Companion Pieces [4]
Category: Homeland
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 03:32:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,068
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17911208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Murmures1234/pseuds/Murmures1234
Summary: Frannie's first breakfast curry!





	Breakfast Curry

July 23rd.  
Day 175 of Carries Fourth hospital admission with Mania. 

Peter sat there with the girl he thought of as his own in his lap. It wasn’t how he imagined spending his Birthday. 

Carrie had promised him last year that she would be here. 

He knew it wasn’t her fault. 

He knew it wasn’t his fault. 

It just was what it was. 

A bit of a shitter. 

He knew he could have told Maggie, but he didn’t. She’d have made a huge fuss of it. The Birthday of the one man who would put up with her little sisters’ bullshit? Yea… that would have been a drama. 

A drama he could have done without. So he hadn’t told Maggie it was his Birthday, hell no. 

I mean, it wasn’t like he gave a shit anyway.

It had never mattered to him before, he tried to reason. Like hell it should matter now. 

He sat in a dark room, watching the Lion King, with a very sleepy, warm, red-headed 4 year old Water bottle snuggled up to him. 

They’d had a great day really. He had no reason to feel lonely. But he did. 

It was the silence of night that killed him. Especially while it was this warm. It took him right back to his younger days in the Desert, the moments where it was finally cool enough to catch some rest. 

In a way, he knew it had been a stupid idea getting a curry. 

He knew it triggered him. 

But f*ck it, it was his Birthday, and he really *really* liked Curry. 

So he’d done Frannie some fish fingers and chips, ordered himself a take-out and plonked himself down next to his little girl to watch ‘Brave’ for the umpteenth time. 

It was a good day really, he reasoned. The best it could have been. An adventure with his little girl, a movie. Brave had been her choice, and Peter had been happy to cede to the happy demand. 

It just broke his heart how much of watching Frannie grow up that Carrie was missing. And at night, in the silence, was when it all became real. 

That he’d passed up the opportunity to take-out the man who’d taken out so many of his friends. The man who’d flown a Taliban flag over his head. 

That all his years of chasing, of killing were for nothing. 

That little girls like Frannie did not grow up any safer because of the sacrifice of American men and women like him and Carrie. 

That all little girls like Frannie had been left with were two Parents who were both so totally fragged they could barely keep it together. 

Curry had been a shitty idea. 

But he just really liked Curry. 

The credits were rolling now, and he turned off the film and carried his little girl up to bed. 

He’d had a fitful sleep. 

He always did in the heat. 

So much so, that when he gave up on sleep, he’d booked himself and Frannie into a Ski Trip at Timberline Lodge in Oregon for the following week. It was about the only place in the USA to have skiable lines all year round; and Frannie would love it too. 

The snow or the water was about the only place he felt sanctity at the moment. He’d done his arctic warfare and some White-water rescue modules in the military, but all his combat experience had been desert. The snow and the water were safe. He only remembered the hilarity of being away on training missions with his buddies. 

Even if no one spoke to him anymore, he still remembered the good times. He tried to anyway. He tried to reason that if Rob had walked out on a mission to Chase Haqqani, again, after everything the pair of them had been through, that he wouldn’t speak to Rob either. 

But he knew it was a lie. 

He knew he’d have accepted Rob moving on, been happy for him. 

Peter couldn’t help but feel betrayed. 

Eventually, he must have fallen asleep, because when he woke up the Sun was well up. The birds were singing. 

He could hear the TV on downstairs. Odd, he was sure he turned it off last night. 

He walked past Frannie’s room, but she wasn’t in there. She must have been the person who turned the TV on- it wasn’t like she could have got out the house, the locks he had put on the door. 

He walked into a lounge, and nearly burst out laughing. 

A huge smile swept across his face. 

His little red headed girl had red curry sauce smeared all across her face, naan bread in her hand. The remnants of his take away containers tipped everywhere in her kid-ish clumsiness. She noticed her Dad in the room. 

“Daddy!” she said, springing up and running to hug him. 

“Oh no you don’t sweetheart,” he said, picking her up and turning her body away from his so she couldn’t smear the red food colouring all over his white t-shirt.  
“Not till you wash your hands.” 

He carried her into the kitchen, kicking the footstool over and depositing her on it so she could wash her hands. She did so, dutifully. 

“So you like Daddy’s curry then sweetheart?” Peter said, chortling. 

Frannie looked back at her Dad, smiling and nodding. 

“Well… What’s Daddy going to have for breakfast then now you’ve eaten mine?” 

Frannie looked thoughtful for a second. 

“You could get more?” She asked. “It was yummy. It will fill you up, then we can have an adventure.” 

Peter picked his girl up, giggling to himself. 

“You know what Red, I think you might have a plan there!” He said, crouching down to open the freezer drawer, picking out a left over portion of curry and throwing it in the microwave one handed, and then tipping some coffee into the pot and throwing the kettle on. 

“What do you reckon then Red, is Daddy gunna teach you how to ride a bike again today?” 

Frannie’s joyful laugh, damp hands around his neck told him all he need to know. 

His day was sorted. 

Breakfast Curry, Biking with his daughter. 

Maybe his Birthday (and the day after) wouldn't be so bad after all. 

And maybe he could let go of the association of Curry with negativity. 

Maybe, maybe anything is possible...


End file.
